Add a song to a playlist in Apple Music without adding it to your library

Apple Music members can add songs to playlists without adding them to their library.

With Apple Music, when you add a song to a playlist from the Apple Music catalog, you can turn off the option for it to automatically add to your Library. For example, if you create a playlist for holiday music, you can add songs to that playlist without the chance that they'll play when you listen to your Library on shuffle in July.

After you update to the latest software on all of your devices (iOS 9.3 or later, iTunes 12.3.3 or later, tvOS 9.2 or later, and Apple Music 0.9.7 or later on Android), when you try to add a song from the Apple Music catalog to your Library, you'll see a message that asks if you want to add the song to your Library or only to a playlist.

You can change the setting to add songs to your Library at any time. When you change this setting on one device, the change applies to all other devices on which you're signed in with the same Apple ID.

On your Apple TV (4th generation)

Swipe down on the Touch surface of your remote to "Add Playlist Songs to Library," then click the Touch surface to turn it off.

On your Android phone

Make sure that you have Apple Music 0.9.7 or later. Then follow these steps:

Open the Apple Music app.

In the upper-left corner, tap the menu icon .

Tap Settings.

Turn off "Add Playlist Songs."

Move songs from your Library to a playlist

If you have songs in your Library that you want to move to a playlist and remove from iCloud Music Library, you first need to delete the song from your library, which will remove it from all playlists. Then, add the song back from the Apple Music catalog and add it just to a playlist.